Distance in change

[JoatSimeon at aol.com]

>X99Lynx at aol.com writes:

>Assuming two daughter languages (Greek/Sanskrit) of a parent tongue are
>separated by distance, does the amount of distance make a difference?

-- the relative intensity and frequency of contact is what matters, because
lack of contact leads to innovations not being shared.  Conversely, where
innovations are shared one can postulate contact.

Linguistic separation may be a function of distance, or of geography
(mountains, rivers, etc.), or environment, or politics (the creation of
Netherlandish as a separate language is almost entirely due to the political
history) or whatever.